Santos Ltd. Chief Executive Officer David Knox will step down after seven years in the role as the Australian oil producer reviews its options amid a plunge in crude prices, the company said Friday.
Knox will depart once a successor has been named, the Adelaide-based company said in a statement after reporting an 82 percent drop in first-half profit.
The slide in oil prices has put pressure on Santos as the company prepares to start its $18.5 billion liquefied natural gas project in Queensland state. The Australian energy producer has cut spending and jobs while flagging the possibility of asset sales as it copes with the oil market downturn. Santos shares have fallen 62 percent in the last year.
Oil traded near the lowest level in almost five months in New York as a rebound in US drilling signaled production is withstanding the slump in prices.
West Texas Intermediate futures were little changed, erasing an earlier drop to the lowest price since March 20. The number of U.S. rigs seeking oil rose by 6 to 670 for a third weekly gain, Baker Hughes Inc. data show.
OPEC members Algeria and Libya said the group could meet earlier that its scheduled December gathering to address the crude oversupply.
Oil has slumped more than 25 percent since this year’s peak in June amid signs the global surplus will be prolonged. The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries’ largest members have sustained record output, while US inventories remain more than 90 million barrels above the five-year seasonal average.
